BBC - History - Historic Figures: Richard II (1367 - 1400) Historic Figures z Richard II © Richard was Plantagenet king of England from 1377 to 1399 and was usurped by Henry IV. Richard was born on 6 January 1367 in Bordeaux, the son of Edward, the Black Prince and grandson of Edward III. Richard's father died in 1376 and his grandfather the following year, making Richard king at the age of 10. The country was ruled largely by his uncle, John of Gaunt. The first crisis of Richard's reign was the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. The young king bravely rode out to meet the rebels, who were led by Wat Tyler. Tyler was killed and the revolt crushed. As Richard began to take control of government himself, he built a group of unpopular favourites. His request for money to fight in France prompted parliament to demand the dismissal of these favourites. Richard's refusal provoked parliament into impeaching his chancellor, the Earl of Suffolk, and creating a commission to oversee the king's activities.

When Richard declared these measures treasonable, parliament and his opponents retaliated in 1388 by outlawing his closest friends, some of whom were executed. Richard appeared defeated and submitted to the demands of the five 'Lords Appellant'. For eight years Richard worked in apparent harmony with Gaunt and the Lords Appellant. Yet he was waiting for revenge. He gradually formed a second, stronger royalist party. In 1397, he arrested and tried three of the appellants. Arundel was convicted of treason and executed, Warwick was banished and Gloucester imprisoned and murdered. Richard was granted revenues for life and the powers of parliament were delegated to a committee. In September 1398, a quarrel between two former appellants, Gaunt's son Henry Bolingbroke and Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, gave the king another opportunity for revenge and he banished them both. When Gaunt died in February 1399, Richard confiscated the vast Lancastrian estates, which would have passed to Bolingbroke. In May, Richard left to campaign in Ireland. Bolingbroke invaded England and rallied both noble and popular support.

Returning to England in August, Richard surrendered without a fight. In September, he abdicated and Bolingbroke ascended the throne as Henry IV. In October, Richard was imprisoned in Pontefract Castle, where he died four months later. Richard II's life and reign Richard II's life and reign Accession to the throne Great seal of Richard II. After F. Sandford, A Genealogical history of the kings and queens of England ... (London, 1707) Larger image (67KB) Richard II (1367-1400), came to the throne as a boy of ten in 1377, at a time when the Hundred Years War with France was turning against the English. His father, the Black Prince, an outstanding soldier, had died in 1376, leaving Richard as Edward III's heir. The Peasants' Revolt In the early years of Richard's reign, advisors (the continual councils) directed domestic and foreign policy. Heavy taxation provoked popular opposition, coming to a head in the so-called 'Peasants' Revolt' of 1381.

The Tower of London was sacked and the archbishop of Canterbury and the treasurer of England were murdered. Richard won admiration for his bravery in riding out to lead the rebels away from London. In 1382 Richard married Anne of Bohemia , daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles IV, and in 1385 his mother, Joan of Kent , died. Aristocratic unrest and the Lords Appellant Richard's high-handed behaviour as an adolescent, the extravagance of his household and the attempts of his councillors to broker a peace with France, led to a series of aristocratic protests between 1386 and 1388. In 1387 Richard was forced to accept a controlling council. He left London in February and returned only in November, a few days before the council's mandate expired. In 1388, as a result of the political and military actions of the magnates known as the Lords Appellant , some of Richard's closest friends and advisors were executed or sent into exile. Richard's majority From 1389 when Richard declared himself to be of age, he influenced more closely the direction of government.

This can be seen in his accumulation of wealth through the heavy fines he imposed, his expeditions to Ireland in 1394 and 1399 and his pursuit of peace with France. He exacted, for example, £10,000 from the Londoners in 1392. Following the death of Anne of Bohemia in 1394, Richard's peace policy led to the twenty-eight year truce sealed at a meeting between Richard II and Charles VI of France at Ardres, near Calais, and Richard's second marriage to Isabelle , eldest daughter of the French king. Rebellion and overthrow Richard's seemingly impregnable position was more fragile than it seemed. In 1397 he attacked the Lords Appellant who had prevailed in 1388 and seized their lands and goods. His uncle, Thomas of Woodstock, was murdered and Richard, earl of Arundel, executed on Tower Hill. Thomas Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, and Thomas Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury, were exiled.

In the following year, as memorably dramatised by Shakespeare in his Richard II (see on stage ), the two remaining Appellants, who initially had been pardoned, Henry of Bolingbroke, duke of Hereford, the future Henry IV, and Thomas Mowbray, duke of Norfolk, accused each other of treason. Richard forbade the resulting duel and exiled both men. In February 1399, John of Gaunt died and Richard seized the great estates of the duchy of Lancaster. This precipitated the crisis of the end of his reign. In May he embarked on his second expedition to Ireland. In July Bolingbroke landed at Ravenspur in Yorkshire and captured and deposed the king. Richard was imprisoned and died, probably murdered, in Pontefract Castle in 1400. Richard II, King of England (1367-1400) Search RICHARD II, King of England, younger son of Edward the Black Prince by Joan "the Fair Maid of Kent," was born at Bordeaux on the 6th of January 1367.

He was brought to England in 1371, and after his father's death was, on the petition of the Commons in parliament, created Prince of Wales on the 10th of November 1376. When Edward III died, on the 21st of June 1377, Richard became king. Popular opinion had credited John of Gaunt with designs on the throne. This was not justified; nevertheless, the rivalry of the boyking's uncles added another to the troubles due to the war, the Black Death and the prospect of a long minority. At first the government was conducted by a council appointed by parliament. The council was honest, but the difficulties of the situation were too great. The ill-considered poll-tax of 1381 was the occasion, though not the real cause, of the Peasants' Revolt in that year. The ministers were quite unequal to the crisis, and when Wat Tyler and his followers got possession of London, it was Richard who showed a precocious tact and confidence in handling it.

It was the boyking who met and temporized with the rebels on the 13th of June at Mile End, and again next day at Smithfield; and he who, with courageous presence of mind, saved the situation when Tyler was killed, by calling on them to take him for their leader. From this time Richard began to assert himself. His chief ministers, appointed by parliament in 1382, were the Earl of Arundel and Michael de la Pole . Arundel Richard disliked, and dismissed next year, when he began his personal government. Pole, whom he retained as Chancellor and made Earl of Suffolk, was a well-chosen adviser. But others, and especially his youthful favourite Robert de Vere , promoted by unheard-of honour to be Marquess of Dublin and Duke of Ireland, were less worthy. Further, Richard made his own position difficult by lavish extravagance and unseemly outbursts of temper. He chafed under the restraint of his relatives, and therefore encouraged John of Gaunt in his Spanish enterprise. This gave the less scrupulous Thomas of Gloucester his opportunity.

Gloucester, supported by Arundel, attacked his nephew's ministers in the parliament of 1386, and by open hints at deposition forced Richard to submit to a council of control. When Richard, with the aid of his friends and by the advice of subservient judges, planned a reversal of the parliament, Gloucester, at the head of the so-called Lords Appellant , anticipated him. Richard had been premature and ill-advised. Gloucester had the advantage of posing as the head of the constitutional party. The king's friends were driven into exile or executed, and he himself forced to submit to the loss of all real power (May 1388). Richard changed his methods, and when the lords appellant had lost credit, asserted himself constitutionally by dismissing Gloucester's supporters from office, and appointing in their place well-approved men like William of Wykeham. In the next parliament of 1390 the king showed himself ready to meet and conciliate his subjects. The simultaneous return of John of Gaunt from Spain put a check on Gloucester's ambition. For seven years Richard ruled constitutionally and on the whole well.

The opposition was quiescent except for two outbreaks by Arundel: the first was a violent attack on John of Gaunt, which rather strengthened Richard's position; the second was a wanton insult to the king at the funeral of his queen. In January 1383 Richard had married Anne of Bohemia (1366-1394), daughter of the emperor Charles IV. The marriage, though childless, was happy; had Anne lived or borne a son the course of events might have been different. Her death on the 7th of June 1394 was a great shock to Richard, and incidentally had important consequences. Richard sought distraction by an expedition to Ireland, the first visit of an English king for more than two centuries. In his policy there he showed a wise statesmanship. At the same time he was negotiating for a permanent peace with France, which was finally arranged in October 1396 to include his own marriage with Isabella, daughter of Charles VI, a child of seven. Gloucester criticized the peace openly, and there was some show of opposition in the parliament of February 1397.

But there was nothing to foreshadow the sudden stroke by which, in July 1397, Richard arrested Gloucester and his chief supporters, the Earls of Arundel and Warwick. The others of the five Lords Appellant, Henry of Bolingbroke afterwards King Henry IV , and the Earl of Nottingham , now supported the king. Richard's action was apparently in deliberate revenge for the events of 1387-88. Gloucester, after a forced confession, died in prison at Calais, smothered by his nephew's orders. Arundel in a packed parliament was condemned and executed; his brother Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury was exiled. The king's friends, including Nottingham and Bolingbroke, made Dukes of Norfolk and Hereford, were all promoted in title and estate. Richard himself was rewarded for ten years' patience by the possession of absolute power. He might perhaps have established it if he could have exercised it with moderation. But he declared that the laws of England were in his mouth, and supported his court in wanton luxury by arbitrary methods of taxation. By the exile of Norfolk and Hereford in September 1398 he seemed to have removed the last persons he need fear.

He was so confident that in May 1399 he paid a second visit to Ireland, taking with him all his most trusted adherents. Thus when Henry landed at Ravenspur in July he found only half-hearted opposition, and when Richard himself returned it was too late. Ultimately Richard surrendered to Henry at Flint on the 19th of August, promising to abdicate if his life was spared. He was taken to London riding behind his rival with indignity. On the 30th of September he signed in the Tower a deed of abdication, wherein he owned himself insufficient and useless, reading it first aloud with a cheerful mien and ending with a request that his cousin would be good lord to him. The parliament ordered that Richard should be kept close prisoner, and he was sent secretly to Pontefract. There in February 1400 he died: no doubt of the rigour of his winter imprisonment, rather than by actual murder as alleged in the story adopted by Shakespeare. The mystery of Richard's death led to rumours that he had escaped, and an impostor pretending to be Richard lived during many years under the protection of the Scottish government.

But no doubt it was the real Richard who was buried without state in 1400 at King's Langley, and honourably reinterred by Henry V at Westminster in 1413. Richard II is a character of strange contradictions. It is difficult to reconcile the precocious boy of 1381 with the wayward and passionate youth of the next few years. Even if it be supposed that he dissembled his real opinions during the period of his constitutional rule, it is impossible to believe that the apparent indifference which he showed in his fall was the mere acting of a part. His violent outbursts of passion perhaps give the best clue to a mercurial and impulsive nature, easily elated and depressed. He had real ability, and in his Irish policy, and in the preference which he gave to it over continental adventure, showed a statesmanship in advance of his time. But this, in spite of his lofty theory of kingship, makes it all the more difficult to explain his extravagant bearing in his prosperity. His fall was due to the triumph of national right over absolute government, but it was his personal conduct which made it inevitable. In appearance Richard was tall and handsome, if effeminate.

He had some literary tastes, which were shown in fitful patronage of Chaucer , Gower and Froissart. His fancy for splendid dress may have been due to an artistic sense, which found better expression in his great buildings of Westminster Hall and Abbey. Richard's second queen, Isabella (1389-1409), was born in Paris on the 9th of November 1389, and was married to the English king at Calais in October, or November, 1396, but on account of the bride's youth the marriage was never consummated. When Richard lost his crown in 1399 Isabella was captured by Henry IV's partisans and sent to Sonning, near Reading, while her father, Charles VI, asked in vain for the restoration of his daughter and of her dowry. In 1401 she was allowed to return to France; in 1406 she became the wife of the poet, Charles, Duke of Orleans, and she died on the 13th of September 1409. Excerpted from: Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Ed. Vol XXIII.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1910. 297. Other Local Resources: BBC - History - British History in depth: The Reign of Richard II, 1377 to 1399 The Reign of Richard II, 1377 to 1399 By Ian Bremner Last updated 2011-02-17 To what extent did Richard II's reign lay the foundation for the bloody Wars of the Roses and what was the social impact of the Black Death? Ian Bremner investigates. On this page Print this page Introduction The reign of Richard II illustrates the changing nature of the crown and society after the Black Death wiped out almost half the population from 1348. Richard's downfall has also been called the first round in what the Victorians named the 'Wars of the Roses,' the bloody, noble civil wars that devastated England from around 1450 to 1487. But the legacy of his rule laid the foundation for that conflict and together with the impact of the plague achieved a social transformation that changed Britain forever. Richard's rule can be viewed as a critical moment in Britain's history.

It provides the first opportunity to assess the impact of the Black Death on all levels of the nations; as society realigns itself, the young king struggles to restore the prestige and authority of the crown. Key issues of the day colour Richard's reign: the ongoing war with France, the power of the nobles, religious change, extending royal authority into the regions and the continuing conflict in Ireland and with Scotland. The Peasants' Revolt... was a judgement on those who were governing the country in Richard's name. There is significant cultural and linguistic advance, new social groups such as the 'gentry' are emerging and by 1500, leave us with a pubescent modern nation state, firmly in possession of defensible borders and one 'common' language. The Peasants' Revolt, the first major 'headline' result of the series of plagues that swept across Europe, was a judgement on those who were governing the country in Richard's name. However, the king's reaction to the revolt was perhaps the highpoint of his personal activity. But it is the rapid fall of Richard II, from his position as a secure, wealthy and respected monarch that sheds the most light on the reality of medieval power.

Top Richard II, boy and man Westminster Hall © Richard ruled as a mature monarch for little more than a decade from 1389, after inheriting the throne from his grandfather in 1377, at the age of 10. He spent his final days alone and died, either from starvation, or by murder on the orders of Henry IV. The son of England's greatest warrior lord, the Black Prince, and a renowned European beauty, Joan of Kent, Richard was born in Bordeaux, 1367. His christening was attended by three kings. Educated in a European style for the first four years of his life, Richard would bring a new sense of class and civility to the English throne. He probably spoke French first and foremost but also learnt English, the language that was rapidly becoming the main tongue of the English nobility. Richard is the first king that we know for sure what he looked like, in part because of his own conscious attempts to raise the personal place of the monarch, through the active use of imagery and artistic representation, the most notable example being the Wilton Diptych, a portable altarpiece and Richard's own portrait, which now hangs in Westminster Abbey.

Richard constructed the first royal bathhouse, may well have invented the pocket handkerchief and used a spoon for the first time. In his patronage of architecture and personal piety, his reign has a powerful legacy in some of the key parts of Westminster Great Hall, York Minster and Canterbury Cathedral. Richard built the magnificent hammer beam roof for the hall, which can be seen to this day. The medieval parliament and king's court often sat under its carved angels and it was from here that the kingdom was ruled. The greatest cultural legacy of the period is the work of Chaucer, a contemporary of Richard and personally known to him but, perhaps surprisingly, not someone who benefited from the king's generous financial patronage. Chaucer's work and use of the English language are legacies of Richard's reign despite the king, not because of his actions; however 'cultured' his court became Richard neglected some of the major trends of his age. Top The reality of power Tomb of Edward III, Westminster Abbey © Richard never learnt that the myth of the prince who rules by divine right and is answerable only to God, is one thing; the reality of power is quite another.

Personally tall and imposing, Richard is the first king to recruit a full time bodyguard of loyal Cheshire bowmen, often deployed to intimidate his foes. Professor Nigel Saul has argued that Richard personally abhorred Christians killing one another and this may explain his determination to make peace with France. However, it did not stop him personally leading armies into Scotland and Ireland. Richard's foreign policy went against all contemporary tradition and proved highly unpopular. The so-called 'Hundred Years War' (1337 - 1453) started in the reign of his grandfather Edward III and had provided Richard's father with stunning victories. Many in England gained financially from the ongoing conflict and few would agree to see the territorial gains handed back to the French. Despite this, Richard sought peace with France, whilst becoming involved in Irish affairs to no long-term gain for the monarchy, but at the eventual cost of his own throne. Any slight had to be avenged whilst the king's person sought constant praise... Richard II appears to have been self-obsessed and aware only of his own needs and feelings. Any slight had to be avenged whilst the king's person sought constant praise, respect and even worship.

Impressed by imagery and symbols, Richard adopted the sign of the white hart, financed lavish memorials for loyal supporters and designed for himself a tomb in Westminster Abbey that few could fail to be impressed by. As with so much about Richard, the reality of his leadership failed to rise to the majesty of its appearance. Top The Succession, 1377-81 Richard II, Canterbury Cathedral © Richard II inherited the throne of a great military power with titles to England, France, Ireland and Wales. England, the heart of the kingdom, had a population of two to three million and the crown enjoyed a healthy income from its estates and customs revenues on wool exports (£70,000 pa.) Royal authority extended to all areas of the kingdom via sheriffs and the loyal nobility. English armies, proven by their victories at Crecy and Poitiers, were well respected, managed, led and equipped. The Hundred Years War continued to drain the economy but provided its own rewards to the nobility and gave England a continental presence in defence of her own interests. The conflicts with England's neighbours dragged on, draining the economy.

On the death of the now senile Edward III in 1377, the ten year-old Richard II inherited a throne that ruled with parliament and in front of which he had to swear to uphold the laws of the people. For a prince who sought to raise the monarchy above human restraints it was an inauspicious start. Parliament selected a regency council that excluded the king's uncle and leading lord, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. With interests split between Gaunt, parliament and the council, government became disorganised. The conflicts with England's neighbours dragged on, draining the economy. Maintaining the basic border forts in France, Scotland and Ireland cost £46,000 pa and by 1381 three regressive poll taxes had been passed by parliament and extracted from an unwilling population, barely recovering from the ravages of the Black Death. Top The Peasants' Revolt, 1381 Victims of the Black Death at Hythe Ossuary © This rebellion, "the most significant in English History," occurred for a combination of reasons, virtually all of which were prompted by the Black Death. The plague that struck Britain from 1348 killed almost half the population.

Those agricultural workers who survived now found their wages rising (by 200-300 per cent) as demand for their services by competing landlords increased. However, the landlords were reluctant to pay the higher wages or allow workers to move to rival estates. Hit by this, three poll taxes and legislation which stated that wages could not rise above pre-plague levels, the ambitious and assertive Yeomen, (but not the poorest), of Essex and Kent rebelled. The 'Poll Tax' of 1380 became particularly hated, as it took no account of individual wealth or earnings and demanded the same sum from all, rich or poor. Richard had personally seen off the greatest popular threat to the medieval English monarchy... Starting in Brentwood, Essex (May 1381) the mob rose against the tax collectors, joined with their colleagues in Kent and thousands of people sacked the City of London. The government lacked any significant military capability and so decided to follow a policy of conciliation with the King meeting the mob and their leader, Wat Tyler, first at Mile End and then Smithfield. The king heard and accepted Tyler's demands and then watched as his bodyguards slew the rebel leader, with or without provocation.

Seeing him dead, Richard rode alone into the middle of the rebel host crying: "You shall have no captain but me. Just follow me to the fields without, and then you can have what you want." With that, the rebel hoard left central London and dispersed. Its leaders were subsequently tried and many hanged. Richard had personally seen off the greatest popular threat to the medieval English monarchy; it was an achievement that would not be matched for the remainder of his reign. The Parliament that was then called to finance the clear up and sustain royal finances generally, now demanded reforms of its own. Reflecting demands that became their motto in the Wars of the Roses, the Commons insisted that the king "live of his own", followed "good government", better represented the different factions in the council and restored respect for the authority of the law. In this case, the nobility in parliament sided with the crown, against the Commons, splitting the political nation. By the end of this reign and throughout the fifteenth century, this situation became reversed as the 'undermighty' crown succeeded in alienating both halves of parliament.

Top Favourites and the influence of Gaunt A portrayal of John of Gaunt © Although only 14 in 1381, Richard II was a tall, handsome and rich king from a good family line. After a lot of wrangling with the great houses of Europe Richard married Anne of Bohemia, with whom he actually fell in love and remained loyal to, until her tragic and devastating death in 1394. The naïve king, surrounded by sycophants, fell into the age old mistake of only rewarding favourites. To those without title, like his teacher Burley he gave offices and land in Kent. Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, had the title but no wealth and gained many profitable offices as his influence over the king increased. Men like these formed a very shaky foundation on which to build a dynasty. Unlike his father and grandfather, Richard was not at ease with many of the great men of the land, the chief of whom remained John of Gaunt, the king's uncle. Gaunt's enormous experience, great wealth and high ambition aroused the jealousy of Richard and his friends. Yet, throughout his life, he was unswervingly loyal to the King.

...Richard was not at ease with many of the great men of the land... Throughout his life, Gaunt remained Richard's strong right arm, even though the two had little mutual affection. It is noteworthy that only during Gaunt's long absence in Europe, advancing his own claims to Castille, did Richard's regime fall for the first time. Top The King's faith and the Lollard movement Tomb of Edward the Confessor, Westminster Abbey © Richard's reign is also notable for the significant impact of John Wyclif and his Lollard followers, who formed the first recognised critics of the established church since the fifth century. Born in Yorkshire in the 1330s, Wyclif was a theologian at Balliol College, Oxford and a 'realist' who believed that one's knowledge derived from within rather than through the senses. He rejected the human church, preferring one which comprised the body of the elect with all authority derived from the scriptures. He denied transubstantiation and believed in the spiritual Eucharist rather than the physical one. Wyclif wanted the church reformed, with its landed wealth and tax exemptions removed.

The Lollards who followed Wyclif, often called "mumblers" (probably reflecting their scriptural based worship) represented a general, but very limited, minority theological reform movement. The most important Lollards were a group of knights who formed part of the king's court. These included Sir William Neville, Sir John Montague and Sir William Beachamp who enjoyed sympathetic support and active protection from the Black Prince and Gaunt, at least from 1371 to 1382. ...Richard II is so self-absorbed that he fails to see that there are many currents and movements in society... Wyclif's aim was for a reformation of the church but his movement failed for various reasons, amongst which were limited literacy levels and the lack of the printing press as a tool of dissemination. Wyclif was an important figure but the extent of his influence was limited, and the crucial contextual requirements that allowed the Reformation to occur were completely non-existent during Richard's reign. Furthermore, if the Lollards had become a greater threat, they would have faced the full assault of the united crown, church and law.

After the Peasants' Revolt, when the association with any kind of opposition brought condemnation, the influence of Lollardy waned. Years later, Henry IV attacked their heresy more vociferously and the Lollards fell into isolation after the failure of the Oldcastle revolt in 1414. Richard personally possessed a strong faith. Yet he did little to stamp out the Lollards and tolerated key adherents to their beliefs in his own court. Again, Richard II is so self-absorbed that he fails to see that there are many currents and movements in society which exist outside his own world. But his personal piety makes any chance of further tolerance on his part highly unlikely. In fact, by the mid-1380s, Richard had started an active campaign against heresy in the kingdom, attacking heretical works, arresting Lollards and supporting the church authorities. However, no new statutes were passed. Richard's personal faith blossomed in the 1390s and a number of artefacts survive from this time, such as the Wilton Diptych, many gifts to the shrine of St. Edward the Confessor at Westminster, and his investment in Westminster Abbey and York Minster.

Top War with Scotland and France, 1385 Scottish borders © Following attacks upon the king in the Salisbury parliament of 1384 over the peace policy favoured by the government and combined with the loss of Flanders to French influence, England was now forced on the defensive by the Auld alliance, between France and Scotland. The French sent a force to aid the invading Scots and threatened England's southern shore with their fleet. Facing this crisis, the feudal levy was summoned for the last time in the Middle Ages and Richard led an invasion of Scotland at the head of a 14,000 man army, a quarter of whom were provided by Gaunt. The Scots, unable to match this force, retreated and refused to be drawn into battle, leaving Richard to burn the border abbeys and depart without gain. Parliament demanded further reforms and refused to pay off the government's debts while the French raised 30,000 men only to find that they too could not afford to actually invade England. Despite all this chaos on his doorstep, Richard II preferred to plan an invasion of Ireland. ...Richard led an invasion of Scotland at the head of a 14,000 man army...

Richard's government was making just about every mistake possible and now fell in the face of a parliamentary backlash. Parliament now made unprecedented demands on the monarchy, it won the sacking of Chancellor de la Pole and then impeached him for good measure. In 1386-7, an alliance between the disaffected Commons and key lords in parliament ended up examining royal finances and putting the Duke of Gloucester in charge. Expenditure was cut and grants to favourites reduced. The king's authority had been fatally undermined as the narrow power base of his administration had nothing to fall back on. Facing humiliation on all sides Richard left London for one of his 'gyrations' around the kingdom. During this period he sought advice from leading judges that publicly defined the royal prerogative. Top The Lords Appellant Strike, 1387-9 Tower of London © The judgements that Richard II received told him that no minister could be impeached without the crown's agreement and that it was treasonous to limit the royal power. They stated that only the king could choose ministers, that he called and dissolved parliament at his will and that he determined its business. In all, it formed a clear statement of the royal prerogative.

So empowered, Richard now charged his opponents with treason. They therefore faced the choice of whether to submit (and face possible death) or to defend themselves. The King's most powerful opponents, the so-called Appellant Lords, now moved against him but claimed to be acting in the interests of the crown and good government. The Appellants represented the traditional noble houses that Richard had always scorned. Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, youngest son of Edward III, brother of Gaunt and uncle to the king, led them. Despite his background, the duke actually had limited income and estates, and had a personal conflict with de Vere over neighbouring estates and authority in Essex. Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick led the strong family interest that had been the main power in the West Midlands for over a century. Richard II had succeeded in undermining their authority and encroaching on their estates. Richard Fitzalan, the 4th Earl of Arundel, was leader of another powerful family, second only to Gaunt in wealth. Thomas Mowbray, Earl of Nottingham, led a great northern powerhouse and shared the personal rivalry with de Vere.

Henry Bolingbroke, Earl of Derby was the son of Gaunt; the same age as Richard II, the two would become bitter foes. The ultimate humiliation came with the execution of four of Richard's favourite knights... In late 1387 matters came to a head. De Vere raised the men of Cheshire in defence of the king and met the five lords in a battle that resulted in his defeat. The lords then marched on London, met the king in the Tower, possibly removed him from the throne for a few days and then tried his leading councillors. The ultimate humiliation came with the execution of four of Richard's favourite knights, including the beloved Burley. Richard and his queen had both begged for his life to be spared. For a man like Richard this kind of event, and the humiliation that accompanied it, would never be forgotten. The Appellants now controlled the government and were faced with being judged by their own actions as rulers. They failed the test. In 1388 the Scots won a great victory at Otterburn, devastated large parts of the north and faced no reprisals. Attacks on France failed, financial reforms did little to improve government, the Commons became disillusioned and the king's popularity increased.

The two peripheral Appellants, Nottingham and Derby, defected to the king on receipt of new offices which meant that in 1389 the king, now aged 22, could declare his own majority and will to rule of his own. The remaining appellants were removed from office as Gaunt returned to bolster the crown. Top Patronage, Power and Peace, 1389-98 Richard II could finally put his own mark onto royal government and follow his own instincts towards peace, which had the secondary advantage of freeing the king from parliament's hold over financial provision. He could also develop his own idea of a more 'absolute' rule. Using his 1390 Book of Statutes Richard now rebuilt his government, authority and image. He had learnt to create his own loyal retinue, to put trusted men in office and to end the war with France and thereby the crown's dependence on parliamentary grants of taxation to pay for the fighting. The question remained whether or not the substance could match the facade. Gaunt was carefully nurtured until 1394, when the king had gained the authority he needed. No-one could look the king in the eye and all deferred to him in a public and effusive way.

He built up the power of a new courtier nobility such as John Holand, his half-brother and Earl of Huntingdon, the new chamberlain and rival to the Courtenay, Earls of Devon. This alienation of yet another powerful local family showed the king had not learnt all the lessons of his minority and would not be forgotten in 1399, when the king was challenged once again. Richard's personal confidence was growing. At court, he insisted on being called Majesty. No-one could look the king in the eye and all deferred to him in a public and effusive way. The council often met daily, kept minutes and actually ran the government. However, these reforms failed to address all the financial problems and the king still spent more than he earnt, due largely to his extravagant personal expenditure. In 1397 he gained a taxation grant without there being the requirements for war, for the first time; a dangerous precedent for the king to rely upon. Peace at home led the government to look abroad and Richard's attention turned to reasserting the crown's authority in Ireland.

Top Involvement in Ireland Richard II became the first king to visit Ireland since 1210 and the last to do so before the 1690s. His involvement in Irish affairs did little to increase English influence, and it also reflected Richard's failure to assess his own position of strength and determine the correct priorities of government. His interest derived from a natural wish to extend royal authority to all edges of his kingdoms, ruling via local fiefs. On the death of his wife, Richard decided to visit Ireland in 1394. He found that the entrenched 'English' settlements in the north and east had declined further as the native Irish attacked estates run largely by absentee lords. Leading several thousand men and virtually all of the loyal nobility, Richard defeated the Irish chieftains in the Southeast. He also set about redefining the balance and nature of authority in Ireland, attempting to break down the old definitions of groups and alliances, replacing it with a broadly defined hegemony whose first loyalty was to the king personally. A 28 year truce with France in 1396, sealed with Richard's betrothal to a French princess left Richard free to look westwards again.

His interest derived from a natural wish to extend royal authority to all edges of his kingdoms... In 1398 the Duke of Surrey replaced the Earl of March as Lieutenant of Ireland on Richard's orders, as the Earl's claims to the succession had become a source of increasing anxiety for the king. Richard made his second ill-fated trip to Ireland in June 1399, making some military advances before Bolingbroke landed in north England. Richard left Irish affairs in a state of flux and in no way enhanced the long term position of the English crown. Attempting to add more substance to his titles interested Richard II greatly. Only his timing left something to be desired. Top Richard's revenge, 1397-9 Tombs of Richard II and his wife, Westminster Abbey © The last two years of Richard's reign are traditionally described as a period of tyranny with the government levying forced loans, carrying out arbitrary arrests and murdering the king's rivals. Richard's regime went on the offensive exacting revenge for past humiliations and attempting to bring substance to the imagery now associated with the king's rule. The cause of Richard's actions has often been considered a result of the death of his queen, who may have provided a restraining influence.

But his tyranny reflected a reaction to a new environment: one of renewed fear. Always carrying resentment against the Appellants, the king now felt threatened again, seized the initiative and had the three senior Appellants, Gloucester, Arundel and Warwick, arrested. Evidence of a plot against the king is unclear but he had every reason to suspect one. Sparked by a long-running dispute between the earl of Warwick and the now loyal Nottingham and the need to fund the French alliance, the king called a loyal parliament. He raised 2000 men in Cheshire, caught the Appellants off guard and tried them in parliament. Warwick was sent to prison, the Duke of Gloucester was probably murdered by Nottingham's men in Calais and Arundel was executed. Evidence of a plot against the king is unclear but he had every reason to suspect one. The king had his revenge and now handed out a slew of titles and land making, amongst others, Nottingham the Duke of Norfolk and Derby the Duke of Hereford. Rarely if ever had so many high offices been created at one time.

Cleverly, Richard went out of his way to split up the estates of the removed Appellants so as to avoid any one nobleman benefiting with too much power; he consciously set out to water down the great houses. In the process the traditional power bases were alienated and the political map of England redrawn. However, Richard's methods, as usual, proved counter productive. Apart from alienating the otherwise loyal families in the regions who saw the 'new' men attempt to gain interest locally, a general fear entered the kingdom as the king alienated his subjects. For example, he did not go anywhere without his 311 man bodyguard of royal archers, and favour at court once again concentrated on a handful of loyalists that owed everything to the king. The final and fatal crisis of the reign derived from Richard's continuing inability to deal with the nobility. A conflict between the two leading noblemen of the younger generation and the legacies of the death of the most powerful duke in the kingdom led to Richard's fall just at a time when he had never seemed more secure in office. Again, decisions made directly and personally by the king drove events.

Top The Coventry joust and death of Gaunt A portrayal of Richard II stopping the joust between Hereford and Norfolk © The picture gets very complicated at this stage as the chronicles only contain Hereford's side of the story. To summarise, he (Henry Bolingbroke, the new Duke of Hereford, former Earl of Derby and son of Gaunt) fell out with the new Duke of Norfolk (Thomas Mowbray the former Earl of Nottingham) over an accusation of a plot against the two of them by nobles seeking the king's favour. Bolingbroke then swore loyalty to the king in parliament and the king ruled that, unless the truth could be proven, the matter could only be settled on the field of battle between the two dukes. The stage was therefore set for the greatest occasion of chivalry in medieval England - a great joust between the two dukes at Gosford Green in Coventry. However, fearing either lord's victory, Richard II halted the contest before it started and exiled both dukes, Norfolk for life. The stage was therefore set for the greatest occasion of chivalry in medieval England...

The crux of Richard's uncertainty and fear derived from the succession and the fact that the 30 year-old king had no heir and had just married a seven year old French princess! Two families possessed strong claims to succeed Richard II: the young Mortimer Earl of March through the senior female line and Lancaster/Hereford through the secondary but male line from John of Gaunt. Needless to say, Gaunt argued that succession to the crown should be entailed to the male line as was increasingly the case for inheriting noble estates. With estates worth £12,000 pa Gaunt was both a potential threat and source of massive patronage if his estates were broken up. In 1398, fearing for their position, Gaunt and his son made the king promise to uphold their inheritance if either died. When Gaunt finally did die, early in 1399, Richard could not resist the temptation to remove a rival and potential heir, and promptly disinherited the exiled but popular Bolingbroke, breaching law and precedent. This was a fatal mistake that underlines the king's limited understanding of what even the 'most glorious' monarch can get away with.

Top The fall of the king, 1399-1400 Conway Castle © On paper, Richard seemed in a very strong position in 1399. The £83,000 dowry from the French crown meant that the king possessed assets for the first time, with over £43,000 in his reserves. The reorganisation of the government around the king's court and the fact that his appointees dominated the nobility and provinces, left seemingly little room for weakness. The marriage treaty had secured peace with France, while the one power in the land who had posed a real threat to Richard's position was dead. Indeed, the king felt so secure that he went marching off to Ireland for the second time, taking his best and most loyal men with him. This expedition achieved little, partly because it was cut short by news that Bolingbroke had landed with a small force in Yorkshire. Stranded in Ireland with no means of returning to Wales and then England, Richard had to watch while the greatest nobles of the land deserted him to join Bolingbroke.

Motivated in part by fear for their own inheritances and general antipathy to Richard's rule, the west and east of England quickly fell to Bolingbroke. The king's last hope, the north west, failed to rally to the cause after the fall of Chester, again without a fight. Finally back in Britain, Richard II surrendered in Conway Castle after talks with the Earl of Northumberland, who promised that the king's position would be respected. With the exception of an abortive raid by the remainder of the royal bodyguard, the king passed into Bolingbroke's custody in the Tower, without any further resistance. ...Richard had to watch while the greatest nobles of the land deserted him... Isolated, Richard now heard Bolingbroke's demand that he relinquish the throne and pass it to Bolingbroke by right of succession in the male line, following noble and European tradition. The king resigned under pressure on 29 September 1399, bringing his 22 year reign to an end. Taken to Pontefract castle, the failure of another loyalist plot reminded Henry of Lancaster how great a liability the live Richard II would be.

By the end of February 1400, Richard of Bordeaux had starved to death. His passing receiving little contemporary comment or record. Henry Bolingbroke proclaimed himself king and took the throne as Henry IV. Initially buried in Kings Langley, Henry V later placed Richard's body in the tomb that he had designed for himself in the Confessor's chapel of Westminster Abbey. Replaced at the height of his power, Richard had been compromised by the narrowness of his own power base and his personal inability to live up to the image that he created for the crown. He failed because he misread the signs around him, and was unable to raise the monarchy as an institution with himself at its head. A good king ruled through and with the nobility, whose respect he had to win and maintain. The gleaming but fragile house of cards came tumbling down, and Richard II became the first of several ruling monarchs to be deposed, murdered, executed or killed in civil war during the fifteenth century. Just as the Black Death shook the foundations of society from below, so the fall of Richard II and subsequent Wars of the Roses would redefine it from above.

Nigel Saul concludes his 467 page magisterial biography by saying that Shakespeare actually caught the character of Richard very well, that he was able to: 'capture the essence of his subject... [Richard's] tragedy was that he mistook the illusion of the stage for the reality of the world around him.' Richard II by Nigel Saul, Yale UP 1997 by author (publisher, date) The Oxford Illustrated History of Medieval England ed. Nigel Saul (Oxford UP, 1997) The Age of Richard II ed. J.L. Gillespie (1997) Crown and Nobility, England: 1272 - 1461 by A. Tuck, 2nd Edition (Blackwell 1999) Richard II and the English Nobility by A. Tuck (1973) The English Nobility in the Late Middle Ages by Chris Given-Wilson (1987) An Illustrated History of Late Medieval England ed. C. Given-Wilson (1996) A New History of Ireland II - Medieval Ireland, 1169-1534 ed. A.

Cosgrove OUP (1987) Ireland in the Middle Ages by Sean Duffy, Macmillan 1997 by author (publisher, date) The Age of Conquest: Wales, 1063-1415 by R.R. Davies OUP (1987) Independence and Nationhood, Scotland 1306 - 1469 by A. Grant (Arnold, 1984) Standards of Living in the Late Middle Ages, 1200-1520 by C. Dyer (1989) The Premature Reformation - Wycliffite Texts and Lollard History by A. Hudson (1988) Medieval Writers and their work by J.A. Burrow (1982) New Pelican Guide to English Literature I, pt. 1 - Chaucer and the Alliterative Tradition ed. Boris Ford (1982) The Architecture of Medieval Britain by C. Platt, Yale UP (1990) Top About the author Ian Bremner is Associate Producer of the BBC History of Britain series.

He studied history at the Universities of Leeds and Vanderbilt (USA), and has worked as a journalist for ABC News and BBC Current Affairs.

Question: Who was the father of King Richard II?
Answer: EDWARD THE BLACK PRINCE